From Reg to Rudd

Saturday was the first "full day" of Bluesfest, with acts on every stage starting about 12:30 p.m. I popped around to pick up and drop off some film downtown before heading over to the MBNA Grassroots Stage to see Gentlemen Reg, stopping on the way to watch Capital B work through a few numbers, including That Little Voice Inside Me from his latest album Completely Blue For You, with the aid of a fine backing band. Drop by his website and you'll see some fulsome praise cropped from my review of Completely - all well-deserved. I do wish it came with better album art, though.
Then off to see Gentlemen Reg ... he reminds me of Eric Matthews and Cardinal, though a slightly higher pitch. He's also been compared to Belle and Sebastien and Nick Drake. His more recent stuff is a bit more robust than that might suggest: He had an excellent band with him which included members of The Stills, The Stars and Final Fantasy.
Jason Collett followed GR, and he was also good, in a somewhat more rootsy way. A crashing version of Out Bring The Sun was a particular highlight.
Then I zipped over to the Main Stage just in time to catch Magic Slim and The Teardrops tear up the stage with some hardcore Chicago electric blues. His second guitarist, John Primer, got a mention on the bill, and it's no wonder: He's also super.
My next stop was the Black Sheep Stage where I saw Owen Pallett, a.k.a. Final Fantasy. Despite his ridiculously self-deprecatory banter, it's amazing what he can do with just his violin and a looping pedal. I also like the fact one of his songs is called The Chronicles of Sarnia.
After a quick dinner break I returned to the Black Sheep Stage to watch The Sadies, bizarrely described by the stage MC as "A freak show on wheels." I confess I split briefly to watch Metric play a couple of songs (the MBNA Grassroots Stage area was jammed) but I returned in time to catch such highlights as Pretty Polly and a concluding double whammy of Pink Floyd's Astronomy Domine and DQE's Tiger Tiger.
Then Xavier Rudd came on. I think I would have enjoyed his positivist, somewhat (okay, very) hippified world music more, but even his amazing one-man band performance couldn't distract me from the discomfort of the packed crowd. By the time he got around to singing about the ocean (I forget if this was before or after his ode to Mother Earth) I was about ready to launch a "Free the Sardines" campaign. My favourite tune was his cover of Jimi Hendrix' The Wind Cries Mary.
For Sunday I'm looking forward to the bookends: Mofro on the Black Sheep Stage and The Immortal Lee County Killers at Irene's with The Double Pumpers.